Cooling the fever over swine flu

Friday 1 May 2009 06:36 BST

The Valley is full of people who shift regularly between here and Mexico, from tech manufacturers running maquiladoras just across the border to regular working folks like Arron, the guy who recently refinished my wood floors and who was just back in Mexico for his mother's funeral. It's a major holiday destination for us all, too.

With all that interconnectedness, we know the swine flu could hit us hard. It could be weeks before we know what we're really dealing with. But amid the uncertainly, one thing's clear: this is another banner moment for social media.

On the one hand, we're seeing the power of services like Twitter and Facebook to inform. A doctor friend of mine in Palo Alto is tweeting about the first suspicious cases he's seeing at the large clinic where he works. He's also sharing the briefings he receives from the Feds and other agencies. The value of being digitally connected has never been easier to demonstrate.

At the same time, social media are helping spread panic. In the absence of facts, some people in my online social networks have been forwarding speculations and even false information. Digital forums are calling for heads to roll because the Palo Alto school district didn't send an emergency warning to parents on a weekend when there hasn't been a case of swine flu within 100 miles. Calm down!

Beyond the social arena, other Valley-born digital media are showing their worth. As they did when wildfires hit the US and Australia, Google's map mash-ups are proving valuable to the public, government agencies and the media. And Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, has created useful Flu Wiki (flu.wikia.com).

* If we're all going to be stuck at home avoiding the flu, we'll have more time to play with iPhone apps. More than a billion have been downloaded. I'm eager to try Leaf Trombone, a new multiplayer musical game from Smule, creators of the hit Ocarina.

* Eight years into a battle to demolish a house he owns (but doesn't live in) in rustic Woodside, Steve Jobs is again angling for permission to knock it down. Some locals call the 1925 mansion historic. Jobs calls it "an abomination". "The faint scent of skunk permeates the interior," reports Fortune magazine. Jobs was "too ill," to advocate in person, said his lawyer. Big news? No: most here think it was a handy excuse.